Chained
by XxShadowcat222xX
Summary: "Never stay long enough to care. If you do, they'll forget about you but you won't be able to let go." A one-shot about Leo feeling unwanted and considering running. Only then does he realize that there are people who need him.


**Chained**

** Hey, everyone!**

** Today I bring you a pretty depressing Leo one-shot. My inspiration for this was a random word generator and the fact that I want to tell you guys something. **

** Okay, onto the thing I want to tell you. So, I'm probably pretty late to realizing this, and it may not be correct, but whatever. Let's think about the Heroes of Olympus Prophecy for a minute. To storm of fire the world must fall. We all know that storm or fire is Leo or Jason (or possibly Percy). Now the other part. The world must fall. The world is the earth. The earth is Gaea. Leo or Jason (or possibly Percy) is going to kill/sleepify Gaea. THAT MEANS LEO OR JASON (OR POSSIBLY PERCY) IS NOT GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- I'm freaking out. How did I figure this out? I was looking through fanfiction and it just popped into my head.**

**Anyway, onto the depressing Leo one-shot! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus or anything else that you may recognize. **

He wanted out.

Every day they would ignore him, never talk to him. He couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. He couldn't figure out _if _he was doing anything wrong.

They were supposed to be his best friends. Ha, what great best friends they were. Jason and Piper would never invite him anywhere, the only time he ever saw them was at the campfire. And they would _still_ pretend he didn't exist.

That's right.

Leo Valdez was lonely. The happy, joking repair boy was just _done_ with them. If they were going to pretend Leo doesn't exist, then he would forget them too.

He would run.

But yet, he couldn't. Leo didn't want to admit it, but he had broken his own rules.

_Never stay long enough to care. If you do, they'll forget about you but you won't be able to let go. _

Leo had done just that.

He cared. He had grown attached to his friends, to Camp Half-Blood, to his siblings.

But not a single one of them returned the feeling.

Sure, his siblings acted like Leo mattered, but he was the head counselor. They could do just fine with Jake or Nyssa as the head of the cabin.

And there was always that nagging feeling that, one day, he'll hurt them just like he hurt his mother. Because nothing good ever happens to Leo Valdez.

Leo knew it was time to high-tail it out of there, yet he didn't want to.

It was like he was chained.

Chained down in a place so tempting, so lovable, but so terrible. A place that you wanted to leave; a place you wanted to stay in. The outside world seemed so great but worse than this place.

The fact was that Leo wanted a fresh start.

His eighth fresh start.

He had to leave but he had to stay.

All of this was flashing through his head as he sat behind Jason and Piper at the campfire. They were kissing and hugging while Leo scowled at the back of their heads.

Leo rolled his eyes and turned the other way just in time to see Percy and Annabeth start making out.

Leo stood up and walked out of the amphitheatre, settling by the canoe lake. He stared at the water and found his thoughts swirling up again.

Was he appreciated?

_No._

Was he wanted?

_Sure didn't seem like it._

What would happen if he broke the chain? If he just walked away, started fresh.

There was the whole demigod thing now, and Leo was never the best at fighting monsters, but he'd make it. Just get his things and go.

Suddenly, the place didn't seem so tempting anymore.

He could change his identity, be a legal age to live on his own. He wouldn't have to deal with the foster homes or boarding schools.

He could even add some money to that fake identity; go to a good engineering college. Get a job, start a machine shop.

Leo stood up and squared is jaw.

He was doing it. He was going to run away.

Leo sprinted to his cabin, and grabbed his duffel bag. _Use only for emergencies. _Did this count as one? Oh well, who cares?

_Certainly not my so-called friends._

_ Shut up, brain._

He packed what clothes he had, which, unfortunately, were mostly Camp Half-Blood attire. He slipped in his picture of his mother, the only thing he had left of her. After adding all of his belongings, Leo grabbed a piece of paper from Nyssa's desk.

_ Leo here._

_ I just wanted to let you guys know that I'll be fine. I want to start fresh, and I can't do that here. _

_ The code to Bunker 9 is 95887. Please tell Festus and Buford that I'm gone and not to worry about me. Festus likes three cans of oil every day and Buford only likes to be polished with Lemon Pledge. _

_ Bye._

_ ~Leo_

Leo set the note on his bed and was ready to leave when someone tugged on his suspenders.

"You're not really leaving, are you?" it was Harley. He must've snuck in when Leo wasn't looking.

"Sorry, kiddo, but I have to," Leo said quietly. This was a lot harder than he planned.

He was to just leave without saying anything, but he should've known better.

Of course, nothing good ever happens to Leo Valdez.

"But… you're my big brother! You can't leave!" Harley wailed.

"Shh… Harley…" Leo tried, but he just didn't know what to say.

Just then the door to the cabin burst open, revealing Nyssa, Jake, and Shane.

They had been talking, but as soon as they saw Leo hugging Harley while he sobbed, they knew something was up.

"Leo, what's going on here?" Nyssa asked cautiously.

"He's leaving!" Harley cried.

"Leaving?" Jake asked, dumbfounded.

"Shane, take Harley outside for a minute. Get him some chocolate or something," Nyssa said.

Shane rushed Harley out of the door, leaving Leo, Nyssa, and Jake.

Nyssa snatched the note from the bed and read it over, Jake peering over her shoulder.

"A fresh start? Really?" Jake asked. Leo nodded.

Nyssa sat next to Leo and pulled him into a hug.

"Why would you leave?" Nyssa asked quietly. Leo stayed silent.

"I'll just… go. Yeah," Jake awkwardly walked out of the door.

"Leo-"

"I wanted to leave because no one wants me here! No one ever wants me! I thought that maybe I could find someplace where I belong, but who am I kidding? I don't belong anywhere! The only place I fit into is the forge, but I can't exactly live there my whole life, now can I?" Leo exploded.

"Leo, _I _want you here. We need you. You belong with us, here at Camp Half-Blood. If you left, you would get killed. Do you know how many monsters would jump at the chance to kill one of the seven?" Nyssa's eyes glistened with tears.

"Nyssa, it's like I can't stay here, but I have to. I just want away from it all," Leo said sadly, staring over at Nyssa.

"Away from what?"

"… Honestly, away from Jason and Piper and Percy and Annabeth. You've seen them. They ignore me, pretend I'm not there. And they're too absorbed in each other to notice that I'm right here," Leo said.

"Stay here," Nyssa said, getting a glint in her eye she only gets when she wants something done, and by the gods, she is going to finish it even if it takes forever.

"Nyssa-"

"If you're not here when I get back, I swear to the gods, I will track you down and drag you back here and chain you to a post and make you stay," Nyssa said.

"I always wanted a sister that could beat me up."

"Shut up," Nyssa joked, smiling.

Leo sat there for a minute, and then Nyssa came back, dragging Jason and Piper in by their ears.

"Apologize. Now," Nyssa said to them.

"For what..?" Piper asked.

"When was the last time you talked to Leo and why?" Nyssa demanded.

"Um… I don't know, surely this morning," Jason said.

Nyssa looked over at Leo.

"Almost three weeks ago about fixing your watch," Leo muttered.

"No, I couldn't have been that long ago," Piper protested, but Nyssa glared at her.

"Leo?" Nyssa gestured at him to speak.

"Before that, you talked to me once or twice every week. I've always been around, at the campfire, trying to get your attention at lunch, but you just don't seem to care," Leo said.

"Leo, we care-" Piper said.

"Then prove it," Leo decided.

"What?" Jason asked incredulously.

"You heard me," Leo said.

"How?"

"I don't know, just prove it!" Leo yelled.

"But-"

"Get out," Leo growled.

Jason and Piper looked at each other then slowly walked out of the cabin.

"They don't care," Leo said, looking up at Nyssa.

"Yes, they do-"

"If they cared, they would have stayed. That was their test," Leo said sadly.

"Leo, you don't need them. You have me. You have Jake and Shane and Harley and all of us! Please don't run away," Nyssa begged.

"I'll think about it, but I make no promises," Leo muttered.

Nyssa smiled and threw her arms around him.

"It's a start," Nyssa whispered.

Leo grinned.

He did it.

He had broken the chain.

And this time, he knew he didn't want to leave.

**Don't diss the chocolate. **

** Yeah, this was depressing for my standards. I know it's nothing for most people, but I don't have 'depressing thoughts', you could say. I'm honestly surprised I did this good. Seriously. The most depressing thought I've ever had is 'I got my first B. Dangit'. Okay, that's not the most depressing, but you get the idea. **

** I think this was long enough. It was like 1,400 words or something. **

** Anyway, I'll just end it off here. **

** I'm still freaking out about the prophecy thing.**

** Yup, I'm weird.**

-**XxShadowcat222xX**-


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